WRAPUP 1-Fog halts ships on central U.S. Gulf Coast

(Wraps and updates several previous news stories from Texas and Louisiana ports)

HOUSTON, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Fog hampered shipping Monday afternoon along the central U.S. Gulf Coast, including the big port of Houston, officials said.

Houston, Galveston, Texas City and Beaumont and Port Arthur in Texas and Lake Charles, Louisiana were affected.

The U.S. Coast Guard said few vessels were delayed because the private pilots who decide when to halt traffic moved vessels during a break in the fog Sunday and early Monday.

"The queue is normal," a Coast Guard spokesman in Houston said.

Fog is a winter problem along the central Gulf Coast, with episodes intermittently halting traffic into the oil refining, petrochemical and cargo terminals there.

Houston pilots stopped scheduling outbounders briefly Monday afternoon but resumed full service within hours, the Coast Guard said.

Pilots serving Galveston and Texas City stopped boarding vessels to guide them in or out of port early Monday afternoon but resumed boardings later in the day.

At Sabine Pass, the entrance to Beaumont and Port Arthur, and on the Calcasieu Ship Channel, which serves Lake Charles, traffic was halted early Monday afternoon, officials said.

The Coast Guard seldom officially closes ports. Decisions about visibility and safety are usually governed by the private pilot associations serving individual ports. (Reporting by Bruce Nichols; Editing by David Gregorio)